Art Public: Transforming Collins Park with 22 works of art and live performances

Art Public: Transforming Collins Park with 22 works of art and live performances  

For the second year running, Art Public turns Collins Park into an outdoor exhibition 
space with large-scale sculpture, video, installation and live performance. Produced in 
collaboration with the Bass Museum of Art, the Art Basel Miami Beach sector includes 
works from the show’s galleries, by leading and emerging international artists, installed 
from ground level within the park to flying along the Miami Beach skyline above. Art 
Public Opening Night takes place on Wednesday, December 5 with a program of special 
performances. 

Selected for the second consecutive year by Christine Y. Kim, Associate Curator of
Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and Co-Founder of the
Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), this year’s edition of Art Public features a series of
works grounded in their connection to speech and language. In this context, Art Public
presents a new version of Ry Rocklen's 'A Touch of Grace', a flag that hangs the length of a
pole and comes perilously close to the ground. With 'Black Dada Flags', Adam Pendleton also
turns to flags as a medium for dialog and lines 16 along Collins Park. Placed in separate
locations in the park, two billboards by Gary Simmons spell out the words 'I wish it could be
morning all day long'. Conversation also continues in the air, as Dave McKenzie’s 'Declaration'
features a plane flying a text-based banner above Collins Park, each day at 11.45am, offering
a different marriage proposal to Art Public viewers every time.

Other works surprise in scale and delivery. Presenting a new work for Art Public, Mark Hagen
shows three interconnecting cement screen panels, each made out of 84 individually crafted
cement units stacked together. While Hagen’s work appears weighty, Ruben Ochoa presents
three new sculptures appearing to defy gravity. For 'Love Stream', Randy Polumbo has turned
a vintage Airstream aluminum trailer into an experiential wonderland of illuminated blossoms,
while Pierre Ardouvin's 'Bonhomme de neige' humorously depict a melting snowman.

Works by Latin American artists, including Lourival Cuquinha, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, José
Davila, Teresa Margolles, Raul Mourão, Iván Navarro and Miguel Andrade Valdez address a
variety of concerns such as urban negotiations around freedom, leisure versus labor, materiality,
movement and monumentality. Art Public also feature 'Twin Vortexes' by Alice Aycock, the first of
six large sculptures realized for 'Park Avenue Paper Chase', scheduled to be on view in New
York on Park Avenue in spring 2014. Included in the sector will be 'Riser', a new work by Australian artist David Keating, and 'Poets in Miami' by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. Finally, 'I
feel, you feel, we feel through each other into our selves' by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone will be
on display in the park.

Art Public Opening Night, free and open to the public, features a commissioned musical
performance by Jason and Alicia Hall Moran with Brandon Ross, interacting with artist José
Davila's work in Collins Park. On that same night, My Barbarian presents an extract of their
piece 'Broke People’s Baroque Peoples' Theater', a singing performance playfully engaging in
questions of economic inequity, artistic patronage, and cultural excesses through a fake
theatre company obsessed with classical allusion, costume, masquerade and sculpture. The
evening continues with an enigmatic choreography by Alex Israel.

On the Oceanfront (between 20th and 21st Streets) and in close proximity to Art Public, the
Absolut Art Bureau presents 'Güiro', an art bar installation conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk
by the artist collective known as Los Carpinteros – Cuban-born, Madrid-based, Marco Castillo
and Dagoberto Rodriguez. Open from 5pm to midnight each night, December 5-8, 'Güiro' is
accompanied by a curated program of live music, performances, and events including
contributions by distinguished Mallorcan composer Joan Valent. For more information, please
visit www.absolutartbureau.com.

List of Art Public artworks: 
Pierre Ardouvin | Bonhomme de neige, 2007 Valentin
Alice Aycock | Twin Vortexes, 2012 | Galerie Thomas Schulte and Fredric Snitzer Gallery
Lourival Cuquinha Varal, 2012 | A Gentil Carioca
José Davila | Untitled (The Space Beneath Us), 2012 | Galería OMR and Travesia Cuatro
Mark Hagen | To be Titled (Additive Sculpture, Miami Screen), 2012 | Almine Rech Gallery
David Keating | Riser, 2012 | RaebervonStenglin
Juliana Cerqueira Leite | Climb, 2012 | Casa Triângulo
Teresa Margolles |Untitled, 2010 | LABOR
Dave McKenzie | Declaration, 2012 | Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
Raul Mourão | Balanço Maré I (Para Bela e Lia), 2011 | Galeria Nara Roesler
Iván Navarro and Courtney Smith | Street Lamp, 2012 | Paul Kasmin Gallery
Ruben Ochoa | Lock, Stock, Barrel, 2012 | Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
Adam Pendleton | Black Dada Flags, 2012 | Pace
Jaume Plensa | Poets in Miami, 2012 | Galerie Lelong and Richard Gray Gallery
Randy Polumbo | Love Stream #2, 2012 | Paul Kasmin Gallery
Ry Rocklen | A Touch of Grace II, 2012 | UNTITLED and Thomas Solomon Gallery
Ugo Rondinone | I feel, you feel, we feel through each other into our selves, 2012 |
Gladstone Gallery
Gary Simmons | I wish it could be morning all day long, 2012 | Metro Pictures, Simon Lee
Gallery, Regen Projects and Anthony Meier Fine Arts  Miguel Andrade Valdez | Monumento Lima translation – Collins Park, 2012 | REVOLVER Galéria
Performances taking place during Art Public Opening Night on December 5:
8.30pm | Jason and Alicia Hall Moran | AiR, 2012 in collaboration with Brandon Ross
9.00pm | My Barbarian | Broke People's Baroque Theater, 2010-2012
9.30pm | Alex Israel | Miami 2012
Art Public Opening Night: December 5, 2012, 8:30pm – 10pm, Collins Park
Art Public is free and open to the public from Dec 5 – 9, 2012, 24 hours.
More information and a description of each project are available at www.artbasel.com/public.

About Art Basel
Art Basel stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and contemporary works, sited in
Basel, Hong Kong, and Miami Beach. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique,
which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel
programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. In addition to
ambitious stands featuring leading galleries from around the globe, each show's singular
exhibition sectors spotlight the latest developments in the visual arts, offering visitors new
ideas, new inspiration and new contacts in the art world.

Important Dates for Media 
Media Reception (accredited media only): December 5, 2012, 10am, Art Collectors Lounge
Opening Day (by invitation only): December 5, 2012, 11am – 9pm
Public Show Dates: December 6 – 9, 2012

Media Information on artbasel.com 
Press release, images, and accreditation guidelines can be downloaded directly from the Art Basel
website, www.artbasel.com/press. Journalists can accredit online for a press pass as well as subscribe
to receive press release for the show.

For the latest updates and detailed visitors' information on Art Basel Miami Beach, visit
www.artbasel.com or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/artbaselmiamibeach.

Press Contacts:
Dorothee Dines, PR Manager, Art Basel
Tel. +41 58 206 27 06, dorothee.dines@artbasel.com

International PR Offices:  

US Representatives:
FITZ & CO, Concetta Duncan
Tel. +1 212 627 1455 ext. 232, concetta@fitzandco.com

Florida Representatives:
Garber & Goodman Inc.
Tel. +1 305 674 1292, abmb@garberandgoodman.com

Europe:
Sutton PR, Catherine McClelland
Tel. +44 20 7183 3577, catherinem@suttonpr.com

Asia:
Sutton PR Asia, Tamsin Selby / Erica Siu
Tel: +852 2528 0792, tamsin@suttonprasia.com / erica@suttonprasia.com